In Latin, with some German, manuscript on parchmentGermany, Bavaria (diocese of Augsburg?), after 1494, c. 1500-1550

156 + 1 leaves (collation i-ii10 + iii12 + iv-vi10 + vii-xx2 + xxi1 + xxii10 + xxiii-xxiv12 + xxv-xxvi10 + xxvii11 [12-1, before f. 145]); modern foliation in ink, bottom, centre, recto (top, outer corner, recto on ff. 70-91), 1-155, with an accidental omission of a leaf after f. 123, foliated as f. 123bis in pencil, bottom, outer corner; written in two main hands, (1) ff. 2-62 and 92-154v, a hybrida libraria in black and red inks, in one column of 17-19 lines, lines unruled (justification 60 x 45 mm.), (2) ff. 63-91v, a gothico-antiqua script in black ink, in one column of 17-19 lines, lines unruled (justification 65 x 45 mm.), with additions in three different sixteenth-century hands on ff. 1r, 154v-155, and 155, and in an early seventeenth-century hand on the end flyleaf (ff. 156-156v); six-line initials in red, ff. 2, 74, 86, 87, and 87v, seven- and eight-line initials in red, ff. 86v and 87, one, two, and three-line initials in red throughout, with two-line initials in red on gold at ff. 10 and 52v, and four-line initials in red and black on gold at ff. 63, 63v, and 64; rubrication of majuscules and underlining in red throughout. Sixteenth-century blind-tooled binding; on the front cover, an impression presumably once of Mary standing on a crescent moon, within a corona, now much deteriorated with only the corona and the right-hand side of the crescent moon visible, not identified, but of a design found on Bavarian bookbindings of the sixteenth century, similar in dimensions and form, for example, to EBDB w004264; on the rear cover, a design of foliage and ribbon-work in lozenge form, not identified; white pigskin over wooden boards, bevelled in the central portions of the fore, upper and lower edges; sewn on two cords with white endbands; two metal fore-edge spiral clasps, intact and functional (for spiral clasps of this type, current after c. 1530, see Adler, Handbuch Buchverschluss, p. 25 and p. 129 pl. 7-05); edges dyed solid red; the front pastedown, together with the first flyleaf with which it would have been contiguous, has been excised, revealing parchment supporting strips cut from a much larger, Latin liturgical manuscript; kept in a small cardboard slipcase, lined in white baize, and wrapped in a modern reproduction of leaves from an early printed bible. Dimensions binding 85 x 65 mm., book block 77 x 60 mm.

Provenance

1. No direct evidence for the original provenance of this manuscript survives. The front pastedown and first flyleaf, which usually preserves such information, no longer survives, and it has not proven possible to localize the binding stamps. Some localization is possible, however, on internal evidence.

The book consists of three production units, of which the first and third (quires i-vi and xxii-xxvii) are written in a single, very neat hand on good quality parchment, the date post quem provided (f. 142) by an indulgence said to have been granted by Pope Alexander VI in 1494. These two units originally belonged together, and were once slightly taller, given the comparative narrowness of the upper margins in these quires, and the obvious truncation of the opening initial on f. 2. At a later point, they have been interpolated by the second production unit (quires vii-xxi), written in a less well-schooled and obviously later, perhaps even mid-sixteenth century hand, on coarser and lower-quality parchment. The construction of this unit is completely different, and likewise betrays a lower degree of skill, consisting of 14 separate bifolia and a final singleton attached around the first quire of the third production unit (f. 91). It is this second, chronologically later production unit, however, which provides important evidence for provenance, in the form of a litany of the saints (ff. 85v-90). The only really distinctive inclusions in this litany are Ss. Ulrich and Afra, which would suggest that this production unit, and therefore the book in its current form, was produced in the diocese of Augsburg.

The content of the whole book is monastic, as the nature of the texts and specific inclusions make certain (e.g. the prayers at ff. 43v-44v, 90-91, 154-154v). Whether this was a male or a female convent is unclear. The assertion made in an earlier catalogue description that the book originated in a double monastery of the Birgittine order is untenable; it rests on no more than references in prayers for, inter alia, “fratres et sorores” and “famulos et famulas”, formulations not distinctive to the copies of those prayers in this manuscript, and which pertain to the order at large (and in one case obviously to biological relatives), rather than the particular monastery. The inclusion of the “Fifteen Oes” attributed to Birgitta of Sweden in this manuscript is of no significance, given the extremely wide circulation of this work in the late Middle Ages. If anything, the frequency of texts attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux points towards a broadly Cistercian background for the material. The only monastic founders listed in the litany of saints in the second production unit are Augustine and Bernard, although both are present too often in litanies, being such major saints, for this to carry much weight.

The first and third production units contain further evidence regarding their origin. First, the short prayers sub elevatione (ff. 125v-126v) in early modern German are written in a Bavarian dialect. Second, in the prayer pro statu monasterii (ff. 124v-125v), Mary is named – in a formulation distinctive to the copy of this prayer in this manuscript – as “our patron”. The monastery in which these earliest quires were written, therefore, was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. This would also provide a context for the extensive augmentation of the Accessus et recessus altaris (ff. 2-62v) with Marian prayers. The set of prayers to the saints (ff. 132v-152v), clearly produced as a coherent collection, includes a prayer to St. Corbinian, bishop of Freising. There are no prayers at all to Saints Ulrich or Afra, included in the litany of the second production unit, nor does Corbinian occur in that litany. Corbinian’s cult was admittedly not strictly confined to the Freising diocese, but the inclusion of this prayer suggests that this collection, and possibly the first and third production units, should be located in the Freising diocese, and not in that of Augsburg. In the confessional tumult of the sixteenth century, it is entirely conceivable that a book produced in one Bavarian abbey, particularly a book this small, should by necessity have left its original home, and have been augmented with additional texts and rebound in an abbey in a neighbouring diocese. Parts of the book are very dirty through constant use, and at least four subsequent readers entered additional prayers, the last at Easter 1609 (rear flyleaf).

This first section combines the prefatory texts to the mass (principally the hymn “Veni, creator spiritus”, and a series of psalms and collects), followed by a set of prayers ante missam, including examples attributed here to Bonaventura (ff. 9-10v), Ambrose (f. 10v-12v), and Augustine (ff. 16-19r and 20v-22v, the first of which is presented and entitled as a prayer of confession).

The Recessus altaris is augmented by a set of Marian prayers. They begin with the verse hymn “Regina clementie, Maria vocata”, structured around the Five Joys of Mary (ff. 57v-59v), equipped here with a rubric which informs the reader that the text was discovered by St Gregory after saying the mass, and that daily, devout recitation of it will guarantee Mary’s aid to the penitent at Judgement. (On this text see Stevens, “Sumer is icumen in”, pp. 313-16, with an edition at pp. 314-15, and discussion of this rubric at pp. 313-14). This is followed by a prayer addressed to Mary and St John the Evangelist together (ff. 59v-61v), and a prayer to Mary to be said after recitation of the rosary (ff. 61v-62v).

The second production unit of the manuscript begins with a short text, which lists seven verses from the Psalms. These, according to the rubric, will – with daily, devout recitation – guarantee both salvation and the knowledge of the day of one’s death; information said to have been revealed to St Bernard by the devil. The story is well-known. A longer version of this text, for example, with an explanation of how Bernard outwitted a demon to reveal the identity of the verses (there eight, not seven in number) is included in the “Antidotarius anime” of Nicolaus Salicetus OCist, in the Antwerp edition of 1490 at f. 45ra-b (http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0006/bsb00065879/image_163).

The complete text of John 18-19 (the narrative of Christ’s Passion) is concluded by the responsories which follow the text in liturgical recitation (f. 76). This is followed by two related prayers: the first appealing to Christ’s suffering on the cross (ff. 73-73v); the second a prayer attributed here to Bede, structured around the seven words spoken by Christ on the cross (ff. 73v-76). This is the prayer “De septem verbis Christi in cruce”, printed under Bede’s name (albeit in a section of ascetica dubia) in PL 94, cols 561-62 B-C. It was very well-known in the late Middle Ages, and we can find it in the 1490 edition of the “Antidotarius anime”, for example, at ff. 45va-46rb. There, as in this present manuscript, its lengthy rubric (ff. 73v-74) assures the reader that recitation of the prayer on bended knee will guarantee freedom from the assaults of devils and evil men, and that the reader will not die unconfessed.

The Seven Penitential Psalms are followed in the standard manner by a litany of the saints and prayers. The litany is of note for its inclusion of Ss. Ulrich and Afra, a strong indicator of provenance from the Augsburg diocese. It is followed by a concluding prayer (ff. 90-91) of some interest. Its inclusion in the petition for Christ’s protection of “nostros famulos et famulas locum istum vna cum congregatione nostra”, and subsequently of “omnesque affinitate fraternitate et familiaritate nobis iunctos” makes the monastic context clear. Appended to the concluding prayer to the litany is the antiphon for the feast of St Roch, patron saint of those afflicted by plague (see http://cantusdatabase.org/id/206597), followed by brief prayers to St Roch and God respectively, both seeking protection from plague.

The “Quindecim orationes”, known in English as the “Fifteen Oes”, is a very widely-transmitted set of prayers consistently ascribed in the later Middle Ages to Birgitta of Sweden, although she is not thought to be the author. This set actually contains seventeen prayers, with two additions at ff. 99-99v, between the ninth and tenth prayers of the sequence proper. It is equipped with a very long prefaratory rubric, which sets out various indulgences and other rewards associated with the recitation of the prayer. These include an indulgence and related rewards promised in the voice of Christ himself; the rubric is concluded with the statement that “hec reuelata fuerunt beate birgitte.” A version of this same preface accompanies the “Quindecim orationes” in the version (with the correct number of prayers, namely 15) included in the 1490 edition of the “Antidotarium anime” at ff. 47vb-48ra.

This collection of prayers is given coherence by its thematic focus on Christ’s Passion, and by the fact that almost every prayer is equipped with one or more indulgences. The collection begins with the famous set “Adoro te in cruce pendentem”, attributed in the rubric of this manuscript, as routinely elsewhere, to St Gregory (ff. 102v-104), followed by a further two prayers said to have been added to the original cycle of five, and equipped with further indulgences, by Sixtus IV in 1475 (ff. 104-104v). After this follow salutationes to the wounds of Christ, attributed to St Gregory (104v-106), a short “Suffragium de passione Domini”, presented as a prayer (ff. 106-107v), and prayers on the Passion attributed to St Peter (ff. 107v-108), Augustine (ff. 108r-109v), Ambrose (ff. 109v-111v), and Peter again (ff. 111v-113). The sequence of prayers on the Passion is interrupted by a prayer, beginning with a series of versicles, against the plague (ff. 113-113v), and attributed here to Pius II (d. 1464). The Passion prayers are then continued with a set of salutationes to all the parts of Christ’s body, starting with his head, crowned with thorns (ff. 113v-115v), followed by a brief prayer on the same theme (ff. 115v-116).

A prayer ascribed to Benedict XII, and attracting an indulgence when recited during the elevation of the host in the mass (ff. 116-117), begins a new thematic set of prayers, all to be said either sub elevatione or more generally infra missam. Almost all are equipped with indulgences, as were the Passion prayers previously. The collection is concluded with two prayers (ff. 124-124v) for the priest celebrating the mass.

This prayer, traditional and widely attested, provides nonetheless an important clue as to the provenance of the manuscript, in that it names Mary as the patron of the abbey, in the petition to the Lord to regard not their sins, but the entreaties of his mother: “Domine ne respicias peccata nostra. sed respice ad deprecacionem. genitricis (f. 126v) tue. sancte marie patrone nostre.”

This short set of three prayers in German constitutes the only vernacular element within the manuscript. They are translations of the Latin prayers “Ave, verum corpus Christi”, “Ave, caro Christi cara”, and “Ave, vere sanguis” (found – in Latin – in this constellation, for example, in a prayerbook from 1517 discussed by Haimerl, Mittelalterliche Frömmigkeit, pp. 79-80 and n. 461). Each prayer is equipped with an appropriate indulgence, and they are worked together to form a coherent entity for recitation during the elevation of the host, during the pause immediately thereafter, and during the subsequent elevation of the chalice; they are attributed to Ambrose, Bernard, and Gregory respectively.

This collection of prayers to the Virgin Mary, several of which are equipped with indulgences, includes a prayer entitled as a “Catena aurea” and ascribed to Bernard (ff. 127-127v), itself followed by an “oratio aurea”, being the hymn “Ave rosa sina spinis”, structured around the words of the Ave Maria (ff. 127v-128v), edited in Mone, “Lateinische Hymnen”, vol. 2, pp. 111-12, no. 401.

A collection of prayers to the saints, undoubtedly written as a coherent entity, with each entry following a standard pattern: a prayer to the saint concerned, followed by an antiphon, and a prayer to God making reference to the saint. Included are Matthias (ff. 132v-133v), Augustine (ff. 133v-134v), Jerome (ff. 135-136), Giles (ff. 136-137), Joseph (ff. 137-138), Corbinian (ff. 138-139), Sebastian (ff. 139-140), George (ff. 140-141), Anne (ff. 141-142v), Mary Magdalene (ff. 142v-143v), Katherine (ff. 143v-145), Barbara (ff. 145-146v), Dorothea (ff. 146v-147v), Margaret (ff. 147v-148v), Agnes (ff. 149-150), Ursula (ff. 150-151v), and All Saints (ff. 151v-152v). Of note in this sequence is the entry for St. Anne, which contains a further prayer in her honor, equipped with an indulgence said to have been provided by Alexander VI in 1494. This provides the firm date post quem for the manuscript as a whole. Of further note is the inclusion of a prayer to St. Corbinian, bishop of Freising. This may point towards the composition of this collection in that diocese, which took Corbinian as its patron.